Well sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I had dreams of my childhood best friend before I entered grade 7, we haven't seen each other for a long time, and on the first day of school, she was my classmate.

Wth is the picture

https://i.imgflip.com/5hgd11.gif
w/ bob and david

you didnt answer the question

Yes, that is what I dream of

They have the meaning I give them, or not as the case may be, just like everything else.

Now to peel “you” away from your mind.
The real question to ask is:
Who or what sees the dreaming while “your” dreaming or who or what knows you slept well or poorly?

What is it that is still aware when you are sleeping?

The memory of that awareness.

I was pointing to non-duality. To that one thing which is no “thing” at all, which never changes, has never changed since my birth, is always turned on, even in deep sleep, which, just as the eye cannot see itself it cannot be seen because it is the seeing itself, again, even in deep sleep, it cannot be touched and is birth-less and deathless.

There are many names for it but it is nameless and formless.
God, Christ Consciousness, Tao, the all seeing eye, Krysna or Krishna Consciousness, Buddha nature, higher self, universal mind, the I Am, Awareness, the before mind ad infinitum.

Those are all just human attempts at explaining the unknowable

I hear ya but What’s unknowable?
All there is is knowing (awareness)
What is known is up for debate.

We all exist as that 1 awareness.
We also exist as souls who are aware of our predicament as souls.
And then as incarnates, as egos which includes our bodies, minds, personalities etc.

The trinity of existence.

There are clearly knowns and unknowns. Without proof those unknowns are can be simply unfounded claims. There is no proof of a soul and believing does not make it so.

Also recently scientists have discovered that humans need sleep to allow 'information' flows back through the spinal cord in reverse

We usually only remember that as a dream if we wake up during it

We are both the dreamers and the dreamt.
It’s a real trip no doubt

Yes, the truth can be believed but be-LIE-fs are not the truth.
The only constant that exists that doesn’t require belief is awareness.

I am aware in the waking state, during dreaming and during deep sleep.

A monk asked the Buddha about awakening:

“Is it something?”

Buddha said:
“No, it’s not something.”

Monk asked:
“Is it nothing?”

Buddha said:
“No, it’s not nothing.”

Awareness is neither nothing nor is it something.
It just is.

Tat Tvam Asi:
Thou are that

Yes. infinity woke moments

my belief is that it is the brain preparing for events that might happen in the real world, for example, you might find yourself being attacked by a bear in your dream, so that your mind can learn what to expect and apply that if you ever came across a bear.

Great answer, probably truth in that for sure!

No

Depends